Despite the title and the presence of Indian singer Geetha Bennett and Carnactic guitarist Prasanna, Indo-jazz fusion is merely a unifying design for composer/pianist Marc Rossi's broad skills and interests. His "Blues for Frank" is as much the African (and blues) side of Coltrane as the Indian, with a strong opening piano vamp,Lance Van Lenten's fierce tenor following Bennett's vocal theme, and a free-improv cadenza by the group.

"Fatwa in Carbondale" begins with Van Lenten's bright, flute-driven theme before Rossi breaks into a propulsive Afro-Latin vamp that drives the solos. The undulating title track builds on raga themes in 7/4 with flute and Bennett's voice, but the hook is in the descending three-note pattern that runs through it like a refrain. The jazz rock of "Free Speech Zone" and its unison stop-time theme for soprano sax recall Weather Report.

On the closing "Bittersweet Five," Rossi (on electric keyboards) and guitarist Prasanna fill out the lyric line with sitar-like ornamentation. There's also the more contemplative "Hidden Mandala Outro," with its dulcimer piano figures, and the traditional tamboura drone piece "Voice of 1000 Colors Intro." But in this context at least, Berklee prof Rossi is more about dance than delicacy, purposeful song than drifting jams.

Street rhythm In the city where Florencia Gonzalez grew up — the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo — every neighborhood has its own candombe group. These are drum outfits that might meet on a Sunday afternoon, a Wednesday night, or particular holidays, depending on neighborhood tradition.

Teachers and students Several of this fall's promising jazz performances are clustered around the week of October 18. That marks the 40th-anniversary celebration of the jazz-studies program at New England Conservatory, which, created by Gunther Schuller, established NEC as one of the international twin beacons of jazz education in Boston along with Berklee College of Music.

Sonny, Pat, and all the cats The primo jazz event of the spring will be SONNY ROLLINS 's concert at Symphony Hall on April 18 (bso.org). The great master saxophonist and peerless improviser often hits town in April, and this time it's to kick off his 80th-birthday tour. Whew.

Pardon the interruption Maybe it was when saxophonist Kelly Roberge, instrument in hand, leapt off the Cambridge YMCA Theatre stage in the middle of a performance by the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra and fled the auditorium — as if in extreme gastro-intestinal distress.

Does jazz have a melody problem? It seems lately that every other jazz musician I talk to under 40 wants to talk about melody — how it’s the thing they all care about.

One night, one jazz trifecta True, there aren't enough paying gigs for musicians, but the live music is out there — and last Wednesday, I had to scramble to make three promising shows.

FRED HERSCH TRIO AT SCULLERS | March 01, 2013 Fred Hersch's output as a composer includes an orchestrated setting of poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass as well as other art-song fare for singers.

THIS SPRING'S JAZZ &AMP; WORLD MUSIC SHOWS | February 28, 2013 The saxophonist Chris Potter started drawing attention when he joined the group of legendary bebop trumpeter Red Rodney as an 18-year-old Manhattan School of Music student.